Scene IX

(The scene changes suddenly to the Place de Greve in Paris. The balcony is transformed into a guillotine-podium; the writing desk into a guillotine, at the side of which sits Lucifer, as hangman. Adam as Danton, speaks from the end of the balcony to the noisy crowd below. Amidst the beating of a drum a very ragged crowd of recruits take their position about the stand. Bright day.)

ADAM (Continuing.)
Freedom, equality, fraternity !
THE CROWD BELOW.
Death unto him who does not recognize them!

ADAM.
Thus say I, too — Two words alone, have saved
The great idea, threatened on all sides.
Unto the true, we say but this : " The land
In peril is," and they awake; — we thunder
Unto the wicked, one word — " Tremble ! " — they fall.
The kings 'gainst us did rise ; to them, we threw
Our sovereign's head; and when the clergy rose,
Wrenching their fulminations from their hands,
We placed upon her throne, long persecuted
Reason. But the second call, our country
Sends unto the true, dies not away.
Eleven regiments now on the confines
Fight; and constantly, our valiant youth
Are pressing forward, the fallen heroes, thus
Replacing. Who can say, bloodthirsty fury
Will decimate the nation? If hot the metal,
The dross falls off, the nobler part remains.
What matter if bloodthirsty now we be,
As monsters may they even look upon us,
If but the land be great and free?

RECRUITS.
Weapons !
Give us but weapons, and a generall —

ADAM.
How brave ! And yet your further needs alarm
All patriots ; your clothes in rags, and bare
Your feet, but willing, all these needs to suffer,
With bayonets you'll gain great victories,
And all you need ; for you will win ; the people
Are invincible. On the guillotine
An army leader's blood was seen to flow,
For he allowed himself to be defeated.

THE PEOPLE.
A traitor he!

ADAM.
Well said! We all agree.
No other treasure has the populace
Than their blood, which they magnanimously,
Prodigally shed for fatherland.
And who this richest treasure 'neath the sun
Commands, and fails to conquer all the world,
A dastard mean, or traitor base must be.

(An officer steps forth from among the recruits.)

OFFICER.
In place of "him, to lead, is my great aim,
Name me, Danton, and I'll wipe out the shame.

ADAM.
My friend, praiseworthy is thy confidence;
But an assurance that thou keep'st thy word,
Before the soldiers, on the field, I ask.

OFFICER.
Assurance of success, lies in my soul ;
And have I not a head, which may, at least
Achieve as much, as that which just did roll
Into the dust?

ADAM.
And who doth guarantee,
Thou'lt bring that head to me, to satisfy
The law?

OFFICER.
What better hostage dost thou need
Than my own life, which I thus hold for naught?
ADAM.
Not so do the recruits consider it.

OFFICER.
Once more, I do implore thee, citizen!
ADAM.
Wait patiently ! thou yet wilt reach the goal.

OFFICER.
Thou hast no confidence? Well, will thy soul
Then, citizen, think better of me now?

(Shoots himself in the head and dies.)

ADAM.
A pity 'tis ; for he deserved the bullet
Of the foe. Remove the corpse. My friends,
Farewell, until the victory be won.

(The recruits go away.)

But could I share your fate! The strife is mine;
No glorious death at hand of enemy ;
But envy and intrigue in ambush lie,
Like to a thief, to cause my death, and that
Of their own sacred home.

CROWD OF PEOPLE.
Whom dost thou dread!
Name him, and he shall be no more.

ADAM.
The one
Whom I could name, is now among the dead.

CROWD OF PEOPLE.
And who are the suspected? Certain, 'tis
They guilty are; the people never errs.
Down, down, with the aristocrats! Come, come!
Let's to the jails, and there in judgment sit!
Our judgment is the people's sacred law.

(The crowd starts toward the jail.)

ADAM.
The danger lies not there! Strong are the bolts,
And foul the air, which kills and stupefies,
Dethrones the reason ; these are your allies ;
We'll leave them to their fate. With head erect,
Bold treason stalks, the while it whets the knife,
E'en there upon the benches of the Convention.

CROWD.
Then off to the Convention! for not yet
Have they been sifted well ; but first, the jails
And the Convention later. In the meantime
Make thou a list of traitors' names, Danton!
(The crowd departs, threatening on the way. In the meantime, several Sansculottes bring a young Marquis and Eve, as his sister, in front of the stand.)

A SANSCULOTTE.
Two young merry aristocrats again we bring;
Their haughty mien and linen fine, proclaim
Their guilt

ADAM.
And what a noble pair it is!
Come nearer, though, to me.
SANSCULOTTE.
Now, let us go,

Where labor waits us, and a deadly blow
To traitors we will give.

(The Sansculottes with the rest of the people go away. The two young people go upon the balcony, around which a few guards are watching.)

ADAM.
What secret force
Draws me to you? I'll save you both, although
My risk is great.

THE MARQUIS.
Danton, if guilty we,
To save us were an act of treachery ;
If innocent we are, we have no need
Of thy vain mercy.

ADAM.
Who art thou, that thus
Thou darest to Danton to speak?

THE MARQUIS.
Marquis
Am I.

ADAM.
Stop! Stop! dost thou not know that now,
There is no rank but that of citizen?

MARQUIS.
I had not heard, that titles, by my king
Had been abolished.

ADAM.
Thou wretch, do not proceed!
Our army enter, and thy way is clear.

MARQUIS.
I have not from my king the leave procured,
To enter foreign ranks.
ADAM.
Then thou must die!

MARQUIS.
One more then, of my race, will for his king
Have gone to death.

ADAM.
Why dost so recklessly
Rush to thy death?

MARQUIS.
And dost thou think that life
To sacrifice, is but the privilege
Of you, men of the people?

ADAM.
Barest thou?
I, too, will dare. E'en 'gainst thy will, thee free
I'll make; and for this act, a coming day,
When party passion holds no longer sway,
Will show me gratitude. Come, national guards,
To my own dwelling take him, and be ye
Hostages for him.

(Some armed national guardsmen lead the Marquis away.)

EVE.
Be strong, my brother!
MARQUIS.
God bless thee, sister! (Exit.)

EVE.
Here ! Take my head also, not meaner 'tis
Than Roland's.

ADAM.
Believe, it doth pain mine ear
From gentle lips, such language harsh to hear.
EVE.
No gentler speech would fit the guillotine!

ADAM.
This terrible machine is my own realm ;
But with thy coming — 'tis as if of Heaven,
Thou'dst left a trace, that in its sanctity,
Enshrines me now.

EVE.
Ne'er did the priests deride
Thus on their way, the beasts of sacrifice.

ADAM.
The sacrifice, believe me, is myself.
Believe me, power and pelf, all are but sham.
Bereft of joy ; I live and death defy,
All envy this, my kingly seat on high.
I clearly see, how each hour of the day,
My friends and foes, the penalty of life
Must pay, and wait my turn. Ah ! I confess,
'Mid all this blood, a certain loneliness
I feel ; it saddens me. I cannot crush
The thought, how sweet it were, could I but love.
Oh! woman, could'st thou teach me, just one day,
The heavenly science, peacefully, the next
My own head I would lay beneath the knife.

EVE.
For love thou yearnest, in these awful days?
And doth thy conscience not affright thee?

ADAM.
Conscience
Is but of low born men, the privilege ;
But he whose life is given as a pledge
To fate, against its voice his heart must close,
For when does tempest cease, because a rose
Droops in its path? Who'd dare to be so bold
As criticise the men who shape and mould
Their age? Who can descry the silken thread,
By which upon the stage of life are led
A Brutus and a Catalina ! Then,
Is there one, who can believe that when
A man achieves a name, he is no more
A man, with tastes and habits as before
He famous grew, and that he can resign
The hundred cares, life 'bout him doth entwine?
Oh, no ! believe it not ; for must a heart
Throb, e'en in him who plays a royal part.
If mighty Caesar had a sweetheart fair,
To her, he was but a kind youth, and ne'er
Would she e'en have suspected that the world
At his command, its battle flags unfurled.
If this be so, tell me, why could'st thou not
Love me? To be a woman, is thy lot:
To be a man is mine.
The heart, 't is said
Will love or hate ; by innate feeling led
I feel affinity, sweet maid, to thee.
Dost, woman, thou, not understand this plea?

EVE.
And if I did, what use? Another God
Guides thee, than he in whose straight path I've trod.
Thy soul and mine, I feel, could ne'er agree.

ADAM.
Then cast aside ideas obsolete,
Why sacrifice to Gods exiled, effete?
One altar only is for woman fit,
Which ever young remains, that is the heart.

EVE.
The desolated altar, too, has martyrs,
Danton ! To watch o'er ruins with devotion
Is more sublime than welcoming new powers ;
And this doth best beseem a woman's sphere.

ADAM.
Not one has ever seen me moved, before,
If friend or enemy could see him now,
Who wields the lash of fate, like to the tempest,
To purify the world, here on this scaffold
Loving a little maid, and shedding tears,
He'd prophesy the downfall of Danton ;
They'd jeer and henceforth none would fear him, still
I beg of thee, one ray of hope.

EVE.
Some time,
When there beyond the tomb, once reconciled
Thy soul puts off the gory dust of time,
Perchance

ADAM.
Cease, maiden! say no more, for I
Believe not in that world above, and hopeless,
With my fate, forever must contend.
(The mob returns in a fury with several gory heads on their swords, some get upon the balcony.)

ONE OF THE PEOPLE.
We've sentenced them ; — what a proud set they were.

A SANSCULOTTE (giving Danton a ring.)
Take thou this ring, for the nation's corner stone.
One of the wretches placed it in my hand,
As to his throat, I held the knife. This set
Take us for robbers. What! thou livest still?
Go, join thy brother!

(Strikes Eve, who falls down, at the back of the scaffold.)

ADAM (covering his eyes.)
Horrors, it is over !
O fate, who can defy thee!

THE MOB.
Citizen !
Lead on, to the Convention! Now, the names
Of traitors, hast thou?

(The moo leave the scaffold. Eve as a ragged, excited woman of the people, disengages herself from the crowd, and with a dagger in one hand, a gory head in the other, rushes up to Danton.)

EVE.
See, Danton, the traitor!
Thee would he have killed, but I killed him.

ADAM.
If in this place, he better would have stood,
Thou hast done ill ; if not, thy deed was well.

EVE.
My deed was well, so my reward I claim.
Spend but one night with me, thou mighty man!

ADAM.
What kind of sympathy, in such a beast
Can dwell? What tenderness within the tigress?

EVE.
In truth, it seemeth, citizen, that thou
Art leagued with the blue-blood aristocrats,
Or in delirium, ravest of romance.
Thou art a man, a woman, I, and young,
And admiration seizes me, great man.

ADAM (aside.)
I shudder, through and through; mine eyes can see
No more, this frightful image. What marvelous
Resemblance! He who once hath known an angel,
And seen him, fallen, has viewed perhaps, a sight
Like this ; the features, form and speech ; all, all ;
But that something infinitesimal,
Which cannot be described, is lacking, all
Thus rendering dissimilar ; the one,
By a halo shielded, I could not possess ;
But this one, with foul breath of hell, to me
Is loathsome.

EVE.
What is it thou art muttering?

ADAM.
I've reckoned, woman, there are more traitors here
Than I have nights.

THE MOB.
To the Convention, now!
Where is the list of traitors' names which thou
Hast promised!

(In the meantime Robespierre, Saint-Just and other members of the Convention, come with another crowd and take their places upon an improvised platform.)

SAINT-JUST.
Name the chief offender.

(Murmuring among the crowd.)

ADAM.
Dar'st
Saint- Just accuse? Dost thou not know my power?

SAINT-JUST.
Thou hast had power, but in the people 'twas ;
But they are wise, and having learned thee now,
Will the Convention's judgments authorize.

ADAM.
I know no power above me, save the power
Which from the people comes ; and they, I know,
Are friends.

(Murmuring again heard among the crowd.)

SAINT-JUST.
The country's enemy is this
Your friend. The mighty people then, shall judge
thee.

Before them, I accuse you, — as betrayer
Of our land, and public plunderer;
Of sympathy with the aristocrats,
And the ambition of a tyrant's sway.

ADAM.
Beware, Saint- Just, of my own fulminations !
Thou dost accuse me falsely.
ROBESPIERRE.
Let him not speak!

Ye know, his tongue is wily as a serpent's ;
But seize him, in the name of liberty!
THE MOB.
Let us no longer listen! Away with him!

ADAM.
Then hear me not ; and neither will I hear
This accusation, for we cannot strive
With words, and e'en your deeds, o'ercome me not;
Thou dost anticipate me, Robespierre ;
Thy only merit 'tis — for I myself
Lay down my arms. It is enough ; but this
I cry to thee; within three months, thou, too,
Wilt tread this path. Hangman, do well thy work!
For 'tis a giant which thou now dost fell.

(He places his head beneath the guillotine.)